Pretty Pink Seahorses . . . and finding inspiration

Once you've been making cookies a while, finding inspiration is not a problem...

"Ooo...that lamppost would make a great cookie!  Gosh, I think I'll make doorknob cookies." 

But if you're looking for some really CUTE inspiration, look no further than a printable site, like that of Living Locurto.  Amy of Living Locurto has the *most fun* party printables that are sure to spark some awesome cookie decorating  ideas!

Take a peek at these:

• Tiffany-inspired birthday
• Lego birthday party
• Pink Owl birthday party

These seahorse cookies were made to go along with Amy's *darling* Mermaid Party printables.   Amy provided a template and the cookies were hand-cut around the design.  You can find the template on Amy's site, here.

{A note about using templates.  Hand-cutting designs is time-consuming.  One way to make it a bit faster is to use the template as a guide and then let your decorating define the shape.  You can see the difference above.  See how the one on the left has each little point and arch cut while the one on the right is just the general shape.}

To make the seahorse cookies, you'll need...

• Amy's template
• cookies....I made chocolate ones
• royal icing colored with AmeriColor Bright Pink and Light Pink
• disposable icing bag
• #3 decorating tip and coupler
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• Americolor Gourmet Writer in black

With a #3 tip (a #3 will allow the outline to show more), pipe the outline of the seahorse in the darker pink icing.

Thin both the light and the darker pinks with water, a teaspoon at a time, stirring by hand until it is the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles and transfer to squeeze bottles.

Working 6-8 cookies at a time, fill in the cookies with light pink icing.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners.
 
Going back over the same 6-8 cookies, add the cheek and stripe detail on top of the wet icing.  Also, fill in the "crown" and fin of the seahorse with the thinned dark pink.


Now add the light pink detail on top of the dark pink.

Let the cookies dry overnight.  The next day, add the eyelash detail with a food coloring pen.


 Want sand?  Crush up some graham crackers on a platter....you have sand.  (FYI...making sand takes A LOT of graham crackers.  Have a few boxes on hand. You can always spread the extras with Nutella....it's part of a balanced breakfast.)

Now, wouldn't your little mermaid like some pink seahorses?!?  
And, remember to check out Amy's Mermaid Party! 

*I'm linking these up to Cheryl's I'm Lovin' It party!*

Birthday ideas for a boy & a girl

I've been lucky enough lately to make some cookies for a few birthday parties and thought I'd share a couple cute party ideas...

for a boy:




I love this idea...a dance party! Complete with DJ and music note cookies!

{black sanding sugar....I don't get a chance to use it often, but I love it!}


for a girl:



A pink high heel shoe party! This was for a little one turning TWO! Apparently, she already has a love for shoes. How cute is that? I think this might be a great party theme for ANY age girl!

If you're looking for more pink, buzz on over to Pink Week over at Blooming on Bainbridge...one of my new favorite blogs!

Related posts:

• birthday butterflies
• pearly girly
• 40th birthday frogs
  

Birthday Butterflies

Cookie inspiration can come from anywhere...greeting cards, invitations, fabric, catalogs...and even going to mass.

Yes, going to mass. This summer, a woman sitting a few pews in front of me had on the prettiest 2-tone pink dress. Halfway through mass, I realized that her dress wasn't just a swirl of pinks, it was actually covered in pink butterflies!


I tucked the idea away for this week because one of my very favorite people, who just happens to be a butterfly lover, is having a birthday. I shouldn't even say "butterfly lover"...she's more like the butterfly whisperer. She has a talent for butterflies...butterfly gardens, butterfly photos...she is an inspiration. ONE DAY, despite my black thumb, I am determined to have a butterfly garden liker her. :)

I think she needed pretty, pink, birthday butterfly cookies! Don't you?

For the cookies themselves, I wanted them to be extra special. I used my regular cookie recipe, but instead of 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, I substituted 1 tsp vanilla bean paste.

{The color is a little off here, but I like that you can see the vanilla bean flecks. This is the same recipe I used for PW's cookies.}

To decorate:

• Make Royal Icing in two shades of pink; I used AmeriColor Deep Pink and Soft Pink.
• With a #2 tip, make the body of the butterfly (I used dots of icing) and outline the wings.
• Thin both shades of icing with water until they reach the consistency of a really thick syrup. Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.
• Stir the icings gently with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have formed on top and transfer to squeeze bottles.
• Fill in the interior of the wings with light pink, but don't bring the icing all the way to the edges...leave about a quarter of an inch. (Work a few cookies at a time.)
  


• While the light pink icing is still wet, add the dark pink icing to the edges and add the veining. The dark pink and light pink icings will dry as one smooth surface. (I was going for a Monarch butterfly here, but feel free to get creative!) :)
  


• Drop in a few non-pareils on the wings for detailing.

Related posts:

• taking flight
• for BEEing sweet
• BEE my honey
  

Pearly Girly

Giving cookies a pearl finish is simple. Just brush on a little Super Pearl luster dust. (I got mine here.)

{It's a little hard to see in the pictures, but the cookie on the left has the pearl finish and the other doesn't.}

Using a child's paintbrush, simply brush the dry luster dust on the cookies once the royal icing has dried overnight. If you want a more opaque finish, follow the instructions here.

I timed myself (I do love a stopwatch, not sure why), and it took me a little less than 1 minute per cookie to add the dry luster dust, so plan accordingly.

As I was coating them, I kept thinking "pretty, pretty princess." Is this a saying? I have a boy...why am I repeating this phrase? Maybe I am crazy?!? Anyhoo...the pearl sheen does make them look very, well, pretty pretty princess.

My customer wanted pale pink and white cupcakes with a pearlized finish and pale green dots on the top. These were given out with a little girl's 1st birthday party invitations. How cute is that idea?!? An invitation with a cookie...yes, please!

Custom orders are always welcome through the shop and I'm still accepting Halloween orders.


Related posts:

• everything's coming up roses
• a cookie full of posies
• teddy bears' picnic
  

Everything's Coming Up Roses

{Update: I'm guest posting (my first ever) over at the darling Muthering Heights today! Come on over!}

When my neighbor (yep, THAT one) asked me to come over for a girls' night out, I was really excited.

Kristen also ordered cookies (yay!). She mentioned that she was going to give the girls a little something from the adorable Pleated Poppy and I thought I knew just the cookies to go with them.


I used the template that I made for the Yellow Rose sugar cookies.

To make a template for a specific shape, draw it on a file folder or something sturdy and cut it out. After rolling the dough, go around the shape with a paring knife. It takes a little more time and the edges aren't quite as clean as a cutter, but that's ok.


To make the red & pink roses:

• Using a #2 tip, pipe the outline of the rose in a pinky-red (AmeriColor Super Red mixed with Deep Pink).
• Using a #2 tip, pipe the outline of the leaf in green (AmeriColor Leaf Green).
• Thin pink (AmeriColor Deep Pink) and green icing, with water until they reach the consistency of syrup, cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.
• Stir the pink icing gently with a rubber spatula to break any bubbles on the surface and transfer to a squeeze bottle. Fill in the rose with the thinned, flood icing.
• Repeat with the green icing, filling in the leaf.
• Let dry at least one hour.
• Using the same #2 tips, pipe the details in red and green on the rose.
• Let dry completely before packaging

In case you're wondering, it was such fun! Lots of laughs, great conversation... Did I mention the chocolate fountain? Yeah...it was a good time!

Thank you, Kristen, for inviting me!

Related posts:

1. Yellow Rose cookies
2. Decorated daisy cookies
   

Flip Flop, Flip Flop….the sounds of summer

You know summer is here when "flip flop, flip flop" is the sound you hear wherever you go.

{For the rest of this post and instructions on making flip flop cookies, please follow me over to Blissfully Delish...}

A cookie full of posies...

My girlfriend Terri is having a birthday today...and her sweet mom ordered cookies for her! :)

She ordered these:

But then emailed and told me to do whatever I wanted.

I still wanted to make the pink birthday cakes...they are some of my favorites, but I thought I'd play around with the design a little.

These on the right, with the big flowers, turned out to be my favorites. The flowers are pretty "high profile," so I'm a little worried about how they will ship.

Maybe Terri will let us know. (Don't worry, I sent extras in case of breakage!)

Here are a few of Terri's pink birthday cookie mix all together...



Terri.....I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!! I miss you! I'll be sure to drink a Bass Ale in your honor tonight! :)

G is for Gabriella . . . and GIRL!

A little background on these cookies....while my mom was living, she was lucky enough to make some of the best girlfriends ever; my sister & I call them the ya-ya's. In the 25 years or so they've known each other, their families have become part of our family. Now, the 5 ya-ya's have 10 kids total, 8 daughters (I'm one of them). Of all of us girls, we have 9 boys...NO GIRLS! Until now! Erin, mother to 2 adorable boys already, is having a girl and these cookies are for her shower.

I think the stores in the area may be out of pink at this point! We have been waiting a long time to shop in the little girls' section!!! Don't get me wrong, I'll choose playing Legos over My Pretty Pony any day of the week, but there is something so sweet about tiny smocked dresses and little ruffled diaper covers! Thank you, Erin!!! It was fun going to the "other" side of the kids' section for once! To make these cookies:

• Using a #3 tip, outline a scalloped border in white icing.
• Thin pink and white icing with water to the consistency of syrup and cover with a damp dishcloth. Let sit for a few minutes. (Spectrum Deep Pink)
• Run a rubber spatula gently through the icing to pop any bubbles that have formed on the top. Pour the flood icings into squeeze bottles.
• Fill in cookies with the pink icing, using a toothpick to guide into the edges.
• Once about 6 or so have been filled, add dots of thinned white icing on top.
• Gently place the pre-made monograms onto the wet icing. (See previous post for monogram instructions.)
• Let sit overnight to dry.
  
  

Hannah Montana Party

A girlfriend called this week with a request for cookies for her daughter's Hannah Montana party. Since I have a boy and we are kind of "all-LEGOS-all-the-time" around here, I wasn't quite sure where to start. I took a look at the Hannah Montana website (I must say that I feel much more "with it" now that I know about Hannah), but decided I wasn't going to be able to get her name/logo to look quite right in my handwriting. I didn't have a guitar cutter, so here is what I came up with. The HM is for Hannah Montana, obviously, in Hannah colors. My sister had to set me straight on how to make the treble symbol. :) I like the way the music staff came out on the cookies.

I hope Penny and her friends like them. Can't you just picture a group of 9-year-old girls dancing around in their pj's? :) Happy Birthday, Penny...have a great party!!!

For the colors:

Black: Spectrum Super Black
Yellow: AmeriColor Gold mixed with AmeriColor Egg Yellow
Purple: AmeriColor Violet

You Say It's Your Birthday...

Today is my sister's birthday. No, I didn't make cookies for her...we're heading to Ben & Jerry's later for chocolate chip cookie sundaes...oh, yay! :)

These are cookies I made for her "girls' night out" party before she got married. I know...pretty sexy! ;) I used my gingerbread lady and man cookie cutters and had to nip them in at the waist quite a bit.

To make them...

1. Outline basic "outfit"...bra and panties or nightgown using a #2 tip in your choice of color.
2. With another #2 tip, outline body in flesh tone. (AmeriColor Copper/Fleshtone)
3. Thin outfit icing to the consistency of syrup. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit several minutes. Stir gently to pop bubbles that have formed on top. Pour into a squeeze bottle and fill in outfit. Use a toothpick to coax the icing into all corners and to edges.
4. After filling in about 6 to 8 outfit, add dots in thinned icing, if desired.
5. Using the same method as above, thin and flood body in flesh tone.
6. Let dry at least one hour.
7. Using a #1 tip, add details to outfits, such as "dot" straps.
8. Using a #1 tip, add curly hair. (Spectrum Chocolate Brown was used here.) For an example of straight hair, click here.
9. Again, using a #1 tip, pipe a heart-shaped mouth in red. (Spectrum Super Red)

Happy Birthday, Molly!